The Wallis to Stream Three Hershey Felder World Premiere Musical Events

Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts announces three live streamed World Premiere musical events produced by Hershey Felder PRESENTS - LIVE FROM FLORENCE benefiting The Wallis, including Hershey Felder as Sholem Aleichem in BEFORE FIDDLER - Live from Florence, Hershey Felder: PUCCINI - Live from Florence, and Hershey Felder as Sergei Rachmaninoff in ANNA & SERGEI - Live from Florence.

Tickets are now on sale with a WORLD PREMIERE PASS featuring a 10% discount for purchasing all three events, plus a BEFORE FIDDLER VIP PACKAGE with exclusive benefits at TheWallis.org/HFP

Hershey Felder as Sholem Aleichem in BEFORE FIDDLER - Live from Florence features actor, playwright and virtuoso pianist Hershey Felder as the great Yiddish author Sholem Aleichem, whose works inspired the classic musical Fiddler on the Roof, as well as performances by the Florence-based Klezmer music ensemble, Klezmerata Fiorentina. Filmed on location where events actually took place, This World Premiere production will be streamed live on Sunday, February 7, 2021, 5 pm Pacific, and will also be available for on-demand streaming through Sunday, February 14.

Aleichem published his first story, Tsvey Shteyner ("Two Stones"), when he was just 24 years old, and by 1890, he had become a central figure in Yiddish literature, known as the "Jewish Mark Twain" for his similar writing style and pen name usage. Decades before the classic musical Fiddler on the Roof first delighted worldwide audiences, Sholem Aleichem created Tevye the Milkman, his beloved character. And long before songs like "Tradition," "If I Were a Rich Man" and "Sunrise, Sunset" first beguiled audiences, there was Klezmer, the music of the Old World that imitated talking, laughing, weeping, and singing, and where musicians spoke in song. In Florence, Italy, one of the oldest artistic centers in the world, a group of virtuoso musicians in the world-famous Orchestra of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (under the baton of famed conductor Zubin Mehta) by day become the Klezmerata Fiorentina by night. The quartet is comprised of violinist and violist Igor Polesitsky; clarinetist Riccardo Crocilla; accordionist and bassoonist Francesco Furlanich; and double bass player Riccardo Donati. Before Fiddler - Live from Florence is directed by Felder & Stefano Decarli, with associate direction by Trevor Hay. Production design is by Hershey Felder. Film production and live editing is by the DeCarli Live film company. Live broadcast and sound design production are by Erik Carstensen. Line producer is Annette Nixon. Production and broadcast development is by Meghan Maiya. Costumes and Hair are by Isabelle Gerbe. Scenic construction is directed by Pierre Gerbe.

Hershey Felder: PUCCINI - Live from Florence (premiering Sunday, March 14, 2021, 5 pm Pacific, and available for on-demand streaming through Sunday, March 21) is about the scandalous life of Giacomo Puccini, the great Italian composer. With music from La Bohème, Tosca, Turandot and more, it is the story of Puccini's deliciously scandalous life, his female characters, and how the real women in his life affected the women he created on stage. The production will be filmed live on location in the places where these events and these compositions and premieres actually took place.

Featuring Rachmaninoff's most beloved melodies and music, Hershey Felder as Sergei Rachmaninoff in ANNA & SERGEI - Live from Florence (Sunday, May 16, 2021, 5 pm Pacific, and available for on-demand streaming through Sunday, May 23) takes place as a memory play in the house in which the Russian Rachmaninoff died in Beverly Hills. It is the story of a very strange meeting between Rachmaninoff and Anna Anderson, the woman who claimed to be the sole surviving member of the Romanov Dynasty, the Princess Anastasia.

According to The Wallis' Artistic Director Paul Crewes, "With these three world premiere productions, tied together by fascinating stories and compelling music, we at The Wallis are pleased to carry on our long running and highly successful collaboration with Hershey Felder."

Tickets are $55.00 per program per household for viewing on Smart TV, computer, smartphone or tablet, and a WORLD PREMIERE PASS for $148.50, featuring a 10% discount for the purchase of all three programs. Also available is a BEFORE FIDDLER VIP PACKAGE for $180, which includes the livestream of the BEFORE FIDDLER production on Sunday, February 7, 5 pm Pacific (plus a week of on demand viewing access through Sunday, February 14), an exclusive live lunch-time Zoom Q&A with Hershey Felder on Thursday, February 11, at 12 pm Pacific, and exclusive on demand viewing access to Hershey Felder Presents: Backstory, the story behind the making of Felder's three plays about Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, and Leonard Bernstein. Viewing access for Backstory begins Friday, February 5, 12 pm Pacific, and ends Sunday, February 21, 11:59 pm Pacific.

Patrons will receive their viewing links on Friday, February 5. Tickets cannot be transferred or shared.

For further information and to purchase tickets, please visit TheWallis.org/HF, 310.746.4000 (Tue.-Fri. 9:30 am - 2:30 pm) or email Tickets@TheWallis.org.

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